Visiting Professional - Hannah Waldron

Waldron's graphic and narrative-led image-making has been applied across a range of media from print to textiles, at both a personal and architectural scale. I have found weaving to be a natural process to complement my grid-based image-making and recently completed an MFA in Textiles at Konstfack, Sweden. In 2014 I was awarded the HAY talent award.

Although Waldron's seminar was predominantly aimed at illustrators and fashion students, I was intrigued by Waldron's illustrative textiles which were reminiscent of Grayson Perry's narrative tapestries. Broadening my knowledge on creative processes and gaining advice from professionals in different areas of design can be transferred into my developing practice.

• Takes inspiration from cities and journeys she's been on - research/colour theory

• Unsure whether the course was right for her, Waldron studied illustration in Brighton where she aimed to gain as many skills as she could during her time at university. During this time, she approached retailers such as shops and galleries with books, zines and prints in order to make some money and increase exposure. Waldron highlighted the importance of putting your work into the real world because you get really beneficial feedback.

• Illustrative - Dedicating a page to patterns - Waldron used her repeat patterns in publications to provide the audience with a breathing space, making it easier for them to digest the information and keep them visually stimulated.

Moved to Berlin:

• Provided Waldron with creative freedom which encouraged an exploration of abstract shapes and techniques such as drawing sounds to help stimulate concepts.
• After visiting the Bauhaus, Waldron became inspired by the weavings - Realised that the vertical and horizontal grid like structure to her drawing would transfer well into weaving.
• Tried a simple loom and slowly began to explore the possibilities of the process - Started in black and white, introducing stripes, linear marks and block shapes
• Waldron then started to design FOR the purpose of WEAVING

Process:

• Breaking parts of the composition into separate shapes
• One shape informs the next
• Drawing and painting to explore environment and colour
• Developed her practice by weaving different coloured threads to produce secondary colours - colour theory
• Gouache paintings to map out composition - Encouraged her to move away from digital
• Waldron likes the square format as the composition can be read from any angle.

Developed into clothing - Textiles has been used to create relationship between design and audience
Textiles are versatile - Hard to damage, timeless, we wear them because it is an appropriate medium

Interdisciplinary methods - Connecting different fields as a way of seeing the qualities and characteristics of a material.

Working for big clients such as The New York Times was great for exposure but the short time scale provided made it stressful. Waldron had to produce a realistic response in consideration of time.

Summary

I have been really inspired by Waldron's creative journey because she is always developing and moving her practice forward due to her exploration of materials and processes. This has encouraged me to experiment with new mediums so that I can be innovative and original. Simply taking inspiration from cities and journeys that she has been on has been a really

Waldron mentioned that the gridded structure of her compositions transferred well into the weaving technique. As my knowledge and experience using grids to compose layouts is improving, there is potential to produce weavings using typographical compositions instead of just shape and colour. Communicating through fabric reflects Waldron's principle that textiles has been used to 'create a relationship between the design and an audience'. What better way to communicate than through typography and textiles.

Contact

In order to gain more advice and inspiration, I emailed Waldron after the presentation after finding her email address on her website. During the presentation, Waldron quoted literature that influenced her creative practice, however I was unable to note the quote and source down. Having a better understanding of Waldron's practice gave me more confidence to contact her and I could be more objective by leading the discussion.

Hello Hannah, 

I am a second year Graphic Design student from Leeds College of Art.

I came to your talk at the University before Christmas and I was really inspired by how your exploration of techniques and processes helped to develop and move your practice forward. Your work has inspired me to explore the possibilities and limitations of analogue techniques and processes, however I am struggling to appropriate these solutions into a definitive outcome.

You mentioned a quote from Juhai Pallasmaa during the presentation, however I didn’t manage to note it all down. Would it be possible if you could send me the quote from your presentation?

Thanks a lot for your time! Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

James Green

Reply:

Hello James,

Thanks for getting in touch, I am glad to hear that my talk sparked some thoughts about your practise. It took me a long time working with weaving and textiles before I saw it develop into a definitive outcome, so my advice to you would be to just play with the processes and materials that you find interesting and exciting, and over time it will develop into something unique to you in its own right. Also I would advise you to talk to as many of your tutors, friends and peers as possible about your current work, perhaps they will see/suggest a new process to you that you hadn't thought of? It was through a friend suggesting weaving to me that actually got me to pick up a loom, she gave me a quick lesson and got me actually making things. Before that I had been really thinking about weaving through seeing the textiles at the Bauhaus in Berlin but it my friend talking/teaching me that actually got me into it, so conversations can be really fruitful.

The quote is as follows

'You cannot make what you want to make, but what the material permits you to make..We must not try to make materials speak our language, we must go on with them to the point where other will understand their language' –

Brancusi (The Thinking Hand by Juhani Pallasmaa)

I would really recommend that book as an introduction process and material driven ways of working.

I hope that helps and thanks again for getting in touch.

Hannah

Getting a reply in such a short amount of time shows how keen Waldron is to talk about her practice which I am really grateful for. Her appreciation for getting in touch gives me confidence to contact more professionals because the advice I received has encouraged me to keep exploring hands on processes.

Reply Summary:

• Took her a long time working with textiles and weaving before it developed into a definitive outcome.
• Advice: Play with the processes and materials that I find interesting and exciting and 'over time it will develop into something unique to me'.
• Talk to as many tutors as I can
• Highlighted the importance of talking to friends and peers - Waldron's friend was the person who encouraged and taught her how to weave so it was a big influence
• Complete Brancusi quote - Inspired me because I like to discover the permits and limitations of processes in order to adapt them to inform the production of a solution.
• Publication recommendation - 'The Thinking Hand by Juhani Pallasmaa':

Waldron's recommendation provides a wider view of the role of embodiment in human existential reactions, experiences and expressions as well as the processes of making and thinking.